Govs. Cuomo, Christie announce $1.50 Port Authority toll hike

Advance file photoCommuters using E-ZPass will pay an additional $1.50 to cross the bridges -- including the Bayonne (above) -- and tunnels between New York and New Jersey starting next month, followed by additional increases of 75 cents per year from 2012 through 2015, for a total increase of $4.50 over five years, the governors of the two states announced.

However, Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie made the announcement earlier tonight.

Commuters using E-ZPass will pay an additional $1.50 to cross the bridges and tunnels between New York and New Jersey starting next month, followed by additional increases of 75 cents per year from 2012 through 2015, for a total increase of $4.50 over five years.

Cash payers would pay an additional $2 dollars throughout the term of the increase, the governors said.

One-way PATH fares would rise by 25 cents per year for four years, for a $1 total, the governors said.

The announcement, which came in the form of a letter to the Port Authority chairman and vice chairman released by the bistate agency, softens a proposal by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to raise tolls by an initial $4 for E-ZPass users, followed by a $2 increase in 2014. Cash payers had faced a $3 surcharge initially on top of the initial toll increase, followed by a $5 surcharge in 2014 on top of the additional $2 toll hike.

The Port Authority Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the proposal Friday morning.

The governors' agreement on the increase caps a stormy two weeks of sticker shock at the initial proposal; an outpouring of support from labor unions and industry groups that would benefit from projects financed by the toll hikes; condemnation by mainly Democratic elected officials; and a series of public hearings on Tuesday -- including two on Staten Island -- crowded with supporters and opponents of the proposed hikes.

"We did not want to see any toll increase," the governors said in the letter. But, the letter added, "given the crisis facing the Port Authority and its finances, and the potential safety and economic risks to commuters and businesses, an increase cannot be avoided."

The letter also said the governor's approval of today's amended increase is contingent on the Port Authority board approving an audit of the agency's finances, following two reports this summer by the New York State comptroller's office criticizing the Port Authority for wasting millions of dollars on staff overtime and consultants contracts.

Both governors were critical of the size of the proposed increase following its announcement by the Port Authority on Aug. 5. The governors have veto power over Port Authority decisions, and the agency's chairman, David Samson, and its deputy executive director, Bill Baroni, are both Christie appointees and confidantes.

Some observers suggested the announcement and the governors' responses, including today's agreement, were all part of an orchestrated scheme intended to provide the governors with political cover from commuters' anger over the increase, while still providing additional revenues to the Port Authority to help pay for projects the governors support.

Before the announcement, a pair of state lawmakers let it be known they were hopeful that Cuomo will help institute a discounted Staten Island rate of $4 on Port Authority crossings -- regardless of the kind of hike eventually approved.

State Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) and state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) have also lobbied PA Executive Director Christopher Ward, seeking a Staten Island resident discount similar to what the MTA offers at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

They are pushing for a $4 Staten Island rate-- at 50 percent of the current $8 toll, not 50 percent of whatever kind of increase may be passed-- to cross the three PA bridges connecting the Island to New Jersey.

The Staten Island discount they are seeking would only apply to the Outerbridge Crossing and the Goethals and Bayonne bridges, not any of the other PA crossings that will be affected by a toll hike, Cusick noted.